(Bloomberg) — Oklo Inc., a developer of advanced nuclear technology backed by billionaire Sam Altman, has agreed to produce as much as 12 gigawatts of electricity to data center operator Switch Inc. to assist satisfy technology corporations’ booming demand for power.

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The businesses signed a non-binding agreement that runs through 2044 and can support Oklo’s plans to construct and operate its Aurora small modular reactors, based on a press release Wednesday. Oklo expects to begin delivering electricity by the tip of the last decade, and Chief Executive Officer Jacob DeWitte said the value could be about $100 a megawatt-hour.

Data centers are considered one of the important thing reasons US power demand is anticipated to leap 16% over the subsequent five years, after many years of flat usage, Grid Strategies has forecast. Quite a few technology corporations including Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. have signed agreements in recent months to power their systems with nuclear energy, and Oklo’s cope with Switch is considered one of the largest thus far.

Data centers are “actually type of perfect for brand spanking new nuclear,” DeWitte said in an interview. “They’ve an enormous appetite for power.” Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is Oklo’s chairman.

Still, the atomic deals are all contingent on the reactor corporations completing their designs.

Oklo is considered one of dozens of corporations developing small modular reactors, or SMRs, that will be produced in factories and assembled in the sphere. The strategy is anticipated to make power plants faster and cheaper to construct, but stays untested. None are in service yet within the US, and few are expected to be accomplished this decade. Oklo could also be considered one of the primary out of the gate, and has said its first system could also be running in 2027.

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